THIS WEEKEND The
North American box office was stricken with franchise fever as high-profile
sequels captured the top four positions on the charts during an extremely
busy weekend at the multiplexes. James Bond led the way as Die
Another Day, the 20th installment in the 40-year-old series,
opened triumphantly at number one pushing Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets down to number two. Friday
After Next bowed in third, The Santa
Clause 2 slipped to fourth, and the freshman pic The
Emperor's Club debuted in seventh.

MGM generated the biggest opening weekend ever for the Bond franchise,
and the second best bow in studio history, with Die
Another Day which debuted at number one with $47.1M, according
to final figures. Playing ultrawide
in 3,314 theaters, the PG-13 film averaged a stellar $14,204 per location.
The premiere bested the $35.5M from 3,163 sites that the last 007 flick,
The World Is Not Enough, generated
three years ago. For MGM, only last year's Hannibal
has ever given the beleaguered studio a better opening with its $58M launch.
The blockbuster performance comes as welcome news for the company which
went into the weekend with a measly $206M in year-to-date grosses putting
it in eleventh place among distributors with less than 3% marketshare.

With the popular Pierce Brosnan returning for his fourth turn as the
British secret agent, the $125M-budgeted Die Another
Day brought in existing Bond fans but with the addition of Oscar
winner Halle Berry, the action-adventure broadened its appeal to a younger
and more diverse audience. As has become standard with the Bond franchise,
a seemingly endless line of promotional partners were lined up with each
kicking in millions of marketing dollars to add to the pre-release hype.
Audiences were pleased with Die as
moviegoers polled by CinemaScore.com gave the Lee Tamahori-directed picture
a grade of A-.

International openings in Spain, France, and the United Kingdom brought
in an additional $23M this weekend. Brosnan's three previous spy flicks
generated about two-thirds of their global grosses from outside of North
America and Die Another Day is positioned
to follow in the same footsteps. Goldeneye,
Tomorrow Never Dies, and World
each took in over $340M worldwide and MGM and Fox, its overseas distribution
partner, hope that the latest installment can reach the quadruple century
mark.

Fellow Brit Harry Potter was not too far
behind James Bond and settled for second place with $42.2M for Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The 52% decline was not too
surprising considering the wizard pic is a sequel coming off of a monster
bow, but with glowing reviews and excellent exit polls last weekend, many
in the industry were eyeing a smaller depreciation. Last year's Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone fell only 36% in its second
weekend, however that session was the busy Thanksgiving holiday frame so
comparisons would be unfair. After ten days of release, Chamber
has grossed a terrific $148.4M and could reach the $200M mark by the end
of Thanksgiving weekend.

Proving his bankability once again was Ice Cube whose Christmas comedy
Friday After Next opened with $13M
from 1,616 theaters. Averaging a strong $8,051, the R-rated sequel bowed
below the level of its predecessor, 2000's Next
Friday, which opened with $14.5M over the Friday-to-Sunday portion
of its holiday frame from 1,103 sites. Friday
After Next represents the third release for Cube this year after
March's action-comedy All About the Benjamins
which opened to $10M from 1,505 theaters and the fall hit Barbershop
which debuted with $20.6M from 1,605 and has cut up over $75M to date.
Moviegoers polled by CinemaScore.com gave the pic a B+ grade.

Kris Kringle and pals remained strong this weekend as Disney's The
Santa Clause 2 dropped only 32% and collected $10.2M for fourth
place. Tim Allen's holiday sequel has now banked $94.9M and hopes to be
a major family choice over the upcoming Thanksgivng frame. Eminem's 8
Mile got punched around once again collapsing 55% in its third
weekend to $8.6M giving the Universal drama $97.6M in only 17 days. Both
films should break the $100M mark over the long Turkey Day session.

DreamWorks continued to see prolonged strength with its horror gem The
Ring which slid just 29% to $7.6M in its sixth weekend. The
remake thriller has upped its cume to $110.8M.

Universal kicked off its campaign for the Kevin Kline prep school drama
The Emperor's Club with a small, but
solid, opening of $3.8M from only 809 theaters. Averaging an encouraging
$4,755 per site, the PG-13 film appealed mostly to adult women as 81% of
the audience was over 30 and 62% were female, according to studio exit
polls. With Die Another Day distracting
adults, Universal opted for only a moderately wide release this weekend
hoping that strong word-of-mouth will carry the $12.5M film through Thanksgiving
weekend and December. Moviegoers polled by CinemaScore.com gave The
Emperor's Club a grade of A- and 90% called the movie "Excellent"
or "Very Good". Of the five new wide releases opening on Wednesday,
only Fox's Solaris starring George
Clooney should provide any major direct competition for Emperor.

Slipping down to eighth place was the surprise sensation of the year,
My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which grossed
$3.7M, off only 22%. The IFC Films smash has spent the last seventeen consecutive
weekends in the top ten and is now depreciating at a steady rate. With
$204.5M in the bank, Greek Wedding
now sits at number 42 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters and
could eventually find its way to the neighborhood of $220M.

Sony's prison actioner Half Past Dead
saw 60% of its audience escape in its sophomore weekend as the Steven Seagal
pic grossed $3.1M pushing its ten-day cume to a weak $12.5M. Miramax rounded
out the top ten with the Salma Hayek film Frida
which took in $2.4M, down just 19% thanks in part to 275 extra playdates,
for a total to date of $12.1M.

Three films dropped from the top ten over the weekend. Paramount's $5M
surprise hit Jackass: The Movie has
grossed $62.1M to date and should conclude with around $65M before a healthy
life on video. Sony's $70M action-comedy I Spy
has collected just $32.6M to date and should finish with a disappointing
$36M. Buena Vista's Sweet Home Alabama
has been one of the fall's top performers with a $123.4M take and looks
to end with roughly $126M.

The top ten films grossed $141.7M which was up 2% from last year's Thanksgiving
frame when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
remained at number one with $57.5M; but down 13% from 2000's Turkey weekend
when How the Grinch Stole Christmas
stayed in the top spot with $52.1M.

Compared to projections, Die Another Day
opened a few notches below my $53M forecast. Friday
After Next debuted below my $18M prediction while The
Emperor's Club bowed close to my $5M projection.

Be sure to check back on Wednesday
for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Treasure
Planet, 8 Crazy Nights,
Solaris, Extreme
Ops, and They all open for
Thanksgiving weekend.

This column is updated three times each week: Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source: Exhibitor
Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.